Excavating machine



June 5, 1962 H. 1.. MEYER ETAL 3,037,306

EXCAVATING MACHINE Filed Oct. 5, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 4 INVENTORS 1' avL. Maven may 6. Mann BY Twas 4 F43 4 HTTORNEYS June 5, 1962 L. MEYERETAL 3,037,306

EXCAVATING MACHINE Filed Oct. 3, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS Hem L.MEYER RMD flNruoNY G. Manna Team W HTTORNEYS United States Patent i3,037,306 EXCAVATING MACHINE Henry L. Meyer, Cleveland Heights, andAnthony G. Maran, Cleveland, Ohio, assignors to The Cleveland TrencherCompany, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Oct. 3, 1960, Ser.No. 59,948 3 Claims. (Cl. 37-91) into the earth to scoop up soil andmove it to a discharge station on the machine, where some mechanism,such as a conveyor, is adapted to receive the loads from the buckets fordischarging the excavated material to a side of the excavation.

The buckets may be provided with a plurality of laterally spaced fingersor tines extending inwardly from the rear edges of the buckets, to forma semi-open back for the respective bucket. This arrangement oftinedback buckets is conventionally used in clay or heavy types of soil,with the tines assisting in and being adequate for retaining a load ofsuch soil in the respective buckets. However, when the excavatingmachine is operating in relatively sandy or loamy soil, the load is ofsuch relatively fine or non-lumpy nature that the excavated soil mayreadily pass through the spaced tines forming the bucket back, and thusthe buckets are not efiective in retaining the load in the buckets.

Conventional practice heretofore when utilizing a single machine hasbeen to use a solid bucket back in sandytypes of soils, which solid backis usually atached to the bucket by fasteners, such as bolts, and thelike, and which results in a requirement of 5 to minutes, or even more,to inst-all or remove each of the bucket backs.

The present invention provides a detachable bucket back which may bereadily assembled on and disassembled from an associated bucket, toeither close or open the back of the bucket, and which can be removedand/or installed in a minimum of time, for instance, 3 to 5 seconds. Inan excavating machine with 14 to 15 buckets, this saving in time isconsiderable and enables the machine operator to readily remove orinstall bucket backs on the buckets to meet changing soil conditions,thus providing a much more eificient operation of the digging machine.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a mobileexcavating machine having an improved excavating unit thereon, whichprovides for the ready and efliective use of the machine in varyingtypes of soils.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bucket type, endlessexcavating unit for an excavating machine which unit embodies buckets ofan opened back nature adapted for use in heavier types of soils, andwhich can be readily and quickly adapted for use in sandy or loose typesof soils by attachment of a removable bucket back to the opened backbucket, to form a solid-like back type of bucket.

Another object of the invention is to provide a solid bucket back for agenerally open back bucket of a mobile excavating machine, which can bereadily and quickly attached in snap fastening interlocking coactionwith the bucket, and quickly detached from the respective bucket, forproviding for efiicient use of the machine in various 3,037,306 PatentedJune 5, 1962 types of soils, and wherein the detachable bucket backmember is of an economical type.

Briefly, the foregoing objects are accomplished by the provision of adetachable bucket back member comprised of plate-like or sheet-likematerial, and including a back wall for generally closing the back of anassociated bucket, and a pair of more or less resilient arm portionsprojecting outwardly from the back wall. Such arm portions have meansthereon adapted for quick snap fastening interlocking coaction withcomplementary means on the respective bucket for holding the detachablebucket back member in operable position on the bucket and thus close theback of the latter.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent fromthe'following description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, side-elevational view of a wheel typeexcavating unit for a mobile excavating machine, and comprisingsemi-open back or tined buckets, with which the present invention may beused;

FIG. 2 is a front end elevational view of the FIG. 1 arrangement, takengenerally from the right hand side of the latter, and with the rooterteeth removed;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary. view taken generally along the planeof line 33 of FIG. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows, andillustrating in detail lugs on the sides of the bucket, which areadapted for holding coaction with the detachable back member, the latterhaving been removed from FIG. 3 in the interests of clarity;

FIG. 4 is a front end, elevational view of the detachable back memberper se;

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the FIG. 4 showing.

Referring again to the drawings, there is illustrated in FIG. 1 anarcuate portion of a mobile trench excavating machine digging wheel of awell-known type. Such digging Wheel is adapted to be mounted upon theconventional trenching machine briefly comprising a motor driven vehiclehaving at one end carriage structure which rotatably supports the powerdriven digging wheel. The digging wheel may broadly comprise a pair ofspaced annular ring portions 10 which are rotatably supported on thecarriage structure in any suitable manner. The rings 10 may be connectedtogether by a series of buckets 16 attached to the rings 10 as by meansof fastener means 18.

The buckets may be of any configuration, and are illustrated in FIGS. 1and 2 of the drawings, as of the well known square design, and arepreferably provided with rooter teeth 20 mounted on the leading edgesthereof, for facilitating the digging operation by the buckets. The rearof each of the buckets may be provided with a plurality of laterallyspaced fingers or tines 22 extending inwardly towards the rings 10, andforming a semi-closed back for the bucket. The tines 22 may bepermanently secured to the rearward edge of the bucket, or may bedetachably secured thereto and mounted thereon by the socket portions22a illustrated.

In accordance with the instant invention, a detachable bucket backmember 26 is provided for mounting on each bucket, to substantiallyclose the back of the bucket, if for instance the excavating machine isbeing used in sandy or loose types of soil which would ordinarily tendto pass between the rear tines of the bucket. Such a detachable backmember comprises a sheet or plate-like piece of material, such as sheetmetal or plate steel, and which is adapted to be attached in snapfastening interlocking relation to the rearward end of a correspondingbucket, to form the closed back bucket,

Referring now in particular to FIGS. 4 and 5, such a detachable bucketback member in the embodiment illustrated, comprises a substantiallyrigid, end closure wall 30 with arms portions 32 projecting forwardlyfrom said closure wall. The connection of such arms portions to theclosure wall 30 is of a more or less resilient nature for a purpose tobe hereinafter set forth. In the embodiment illustrated, each armportion 32 has an aperture 34 extending therethrough. The bucket isprovided on each side thereof with a lug 36, which is formedcomplementary to the configuration of the respective aperture 34.Referring to FIG. 3, such lug comprises a tapered cam surface 36a and afront abutment surface 36b. The bucket back member 30 may be readilyattached to the bucket by moving the back member toward the bucket fromthe rear of the latter, whereby the arm portions 32 move along the sidewall portions of the bucket, and the tapered surfaces 36a on the lugsurge the arm portions outwardly in tensioned relation until the lugsenter the complementary apertures 34 in the arms, whereby the arms snapinwardly into generally clasping engagement with the sides of thebuckets, thereby interlocking the bucket back to the bucket in a snapfastening action. The lugs may be received in generally snug fittingrelation in the apertures in the arm portions, and the bucket back isheld in secured relation on the corresponding bucket, to effectivelyclose the back of the bucket. When it is desired to remove the bucketback, a suitable tool can be driven underneath the arms springing themoutwardly, to clear the lugs, whereby the bucket back may be readilywithdrawn from its respective bucket. While the detachable bucket backhas been illustrated as being disposed outwardly of the tines, the sameprinciple of a snap fastening bucket back could be provided if the backmember were disposed inwardly of the tines, or if the tines werecompletely eliminated. Moreover, while the detachable back has beenillustrated in connection with the buckets of a wheel type digging unit,such back member may be conveniently used with the other types ofdigging units, such as the ladder type, wherein the buckets are carriedby an endless chain arrangement.

From the foregoing description and accompanying drawings it will be seenthat the invention provides a novel bucket back for ready and quickattachment to and detachment from an associated bucket, and with thebucket back being held in secured position on the respective bucket by asnap fasteninginterlocking relation between means on the bucket backcoacting with means on the bucket.

The terms and expressions which have been used are used as terms ofdescription and not of limitation, and

there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions ofexcluding any equivalents of any of the features shown and described, orportions thereof, but it is recognized that various modifications arepossible within the scope of the invention claimed.

We claim:

1. In combination an endless bucket equipped excavating unit of a mobileexcavating machine, said excavating unit comprising laterally spacedsupport means on which are mounted a plurality of spaced buckets, aplurality of laterally spaced tines secured to the rearward end of saidbuckets, said tines extending inwardly toward and between said supportmeans to form a semi-closed back for the respective bucket, a detachableone-piece back member mounted on each of said buckets, said back memberbeing formed of generally rigid sheet-like material and comprising anend wall generally closing the back of the respective bucket rearwardlyof said tines and resilient armportions projecting outwardly from saidend wall at opposite sides thereof and into confronting relation withthe exterior of the corresponding ide wall portion of the respectivebucket, said end wall below said arm portions 'being of a lessertransverse width as compared to the transverse width of said end wallintermediate said arm portions, and recess means on said resilient armportions coacting with lug means on said bucket side wall. portions tohold said back member in snap fastened interlocked relation to therespective bucket,

whereby said back member may be readily and quickly detached from andattached to said bucket.

2. In the combinationof claim 1 wherein each of said lug means comprisesa rearwardly disposed oblique cam surface for urging said armportionsoutwardly until said lug means snap into the respective of said recessmeans, during assembly of said back member to the respective bucket.

3. In the combination of claim 2 wherein each of said recess meansis ofrectangular configuration in side elevationand each of said lug means isof complementary rectangular configuration in side elevation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS KelseyJune 15, 1948 2,665,353 Popp Jan. 5, 1954

